


pure (it’s not about your blood; it’s about your heart)

by natigail



Series: Phanfic Bingo 2019 [7]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Bullying, First Meetings, Friendship, Gen, Hogwarts First Year, Hufflepuff Phil Lester, M/M, Magic, Muggle-born, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Slash, Secret Identity, Since they are both 11 years old, Slytherin Dan Howell, Spells & Enchantments
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-26
Updated: 2019-10-26
Packaged: 2021-01-03 19:20:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21184640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/natigail/pseuds/natigail
Summary: Dan arrived at Hogwarts entirely unprepared and he doesn't understand how rare it is for a Muggle-born like himself to be placed in Slytherin. However, he quickly learns that his housemates believe it to be a bad thing and by accident he gets wrapped up in the lie of being son of a powerful wizard dueller instead.It makes his skin crawl to see his new Slytherin friends bully people with Muggle parents, most of all when they go after sweet half-blood Phil Lester, who was kind to him on the first day of school. A couple of months after their first meeting, Dan and Phil wind up alone in a classroom and Dan is stunned when Phil offers to help him with his spell work.Phanfic Bingo: Harry Potter AU





	pure (it’s not about your blood; it’s about your heart)

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this within 24 hours. Don't ask me how. Enjoy young Dan and Phil meeting in the Wizarding world.

Dan was still not sure if this was some elaborate dream. Ever since he had received the letter earlier in the summer, he had just been waiting for someone to jump out and tell him this was a huge elaborate prank and that there was no such thing as magic.

Sure, he had noticed that things would accidentally seem to catch on fire around him but he had always written that off as coincidences more than anything. Even at 11 years old, he was sceptic of the world and he hadn’t believed in anything he hadn’t been able to see. It didn’t help that his parents had kept insisting that he was silly when he had been younger and claimed that he was able to do magic.

His mum had patted his head with an overbearing smile and telling him sweetly that of course he could, but he could easily tell that she was not believing him. His dad had just scoffed and told Dan not to run around saying stupid stuff like that at school or he would get his ass kicked.

After that, Dan hadn’t believed in magic anymore, despite how he’d sometimes feel like there was something tingling under his skin, itching to get out. He couldn’t explain it to anyone, and even if he tried, he knew that no one would listen. His mother had warned him that he couldn’t say such stuff to other adults or they might need to put him on medicine. 

Dan kept his mouth shut and ignored the occasional burning under his skin.

Imagine both his parents and his own surprise when a letter suddenly appeared in the mailbox addressed to Daniel James Howell. It had a wax seal and the envelope was heavy and the paper felt expensive to the touch. Dan had opened it proudly, reading through the cursive handwriting with his best ability. He couldn’t understand it though.

It said that he was a wizard. He had magic. He read it through three times but each time, the letters remained and the meaning didn’t change. Dan had reluctantly handed it over to his father to read and thus had ensued the oddest week of Dan’s life.

Neither of his parents had believed it at first. They thought someone was playing a prank and they were none too amused. Until a man in a suit showed up at their door two days later, asking why they hadn’t confirmed Dan’s school attendance at Hogwarts. The man told them that he was from the Ministry of Magic and Dan stepped in when his parents tried to slam the door in the man’s face.

Only, he didn’t stop the door from swinging shut by putting a hand out or a foot down. Instead, he flinched and the door shook in his father’s hand, unnaturally, which caused him to step back and just stare.

“You’re a minor and not allowed to use magic outside of school, Daniel. But I will let it slide just this time. You will learn how to wield your magic at Hogwarts after all,” the man from the Ministry of Magic had told him and Dan had stared at his face like a dumbstruck fish.

It had taken a lot of convincing of his parents but eventually they had relented, after they had seen the man pull out a wand – a proper magical looking wand! – and making all the furniture float around the room. After they had jumped in shock first, of course.

Dan had just stared in absolute wonder and he had felt a tightness in his chest loosen just a little. His parents had been good to him, he hadn’t ever gone wanting but he always felt like he was missing something anyway. It felt amazing to see that he had been right all those years ago, before his childish mind had been forced into early cynicism. He felt like a little kid again and he hoped that light feeling in his chest would never disappear.

It was safe to say that it had disappeared when he was ushered out of the odd red train and saw the ground of Hogwarts for the first time. He had stopped right there on the platform, too abruptly, and it had only taken a second before someone had knocked into him and he had gone sprawling.

“Idiot,” someone snickered as Dan moved to collect himself.

His face was burning. As if it hadn’t been enough of a bizarre experience to be escorted through a brick wall into a place called Diagon Alley last week to pick up the coolest but also weirdest set of school supplies ever. It was not as weird as having to run face first into a wall at King’s Cross but Dan was quickly learning that every wall might be a secret door. He had felt giddy and anxious for his first day at school and he was all alone and now he was on the floor and he felt embarrassment flush through him.

“Let me help you,” someone said, leaning in over him with a hand stretched out.

Dan paused in his kneeled position, reaching out to take the hand more out of instinct than anything else. His hand closed around a hand his size and he was easily pulled to his feet. A kid with slightly red hair and the smallest dusting of freckles smiled at him.

“Thank you,” Dan stuttered out, a little overwhelmed.

He’d chatted casually to a couple of the other students from his train cabin but they had all bolted out the moment the doors opened. This kid had not been one of them. Dan would have remembered someone with eyes like that or such a bright smile.

“Be careful, yeah?” the other boy said and reached out to pull his wand from inside of his robe.

Dan instantly went on high alert, thinking that he might be challenged to a duel in the middle of the crowded train platform, but before he could react the boy was speaking.

“_Scourgify_” he said and moved his wand and instantly all the dust that had accumulated on the front of Dan’s new robe vanished into thin air.

Dan blinked several times, more than a little baffled. The boy in front of him was not wearing any house colours, which meant that he had to be a new student like Dan. How could he just do that? So easily? 

Dan had practiced with his wand for the last week that he had had it, even if he had been told that he shouldn’t. He had not gotten anything to work and then this kid just strolled up and cleaned him. He was more than a little confused and he suddenly felt horribly unqualified to be here.

“Good as new,” the boy said and flashed Dan another bright smile.

“Phil,” someone said, an older boy wearing in blue colours, as he came running up. “Come on, I promised to follow you up. Mum will be mad if I don’t.”

And just like that, the boy – Phil, Dan tried to memorise – had been dragged along by who was presumably an older brother. Dan shook himself out of the surprise and then he nearly fainted when he noticed a very tall and big man with a big beard. Thankfully, the large man seemed to notice his unease as he tried to pass through and flashed him a very hearty smile. It managed to elevate Dan’s nerves just a little.

He followed the flow of students, hoping that they would lead him where he needed to go. A lady was directing first years off to the side the moment he stepped through the doors of the castle and Dan followed. He tried to catch the boy from before again but he couldn’t see him in the group. He didn’t get a chance to look for long, before they were being told to quiet down and listen.

They would soon be divided into their houses by The Sorting Hat. Dan had been told this before coming but he still wasn’t quite sure how a hat was supposed to tell anyone anything. He was in for a bit of a surprise when he came into the big dining hall to see a hat with a face on the side of it.

Dan might have stared a little too long because suddenly the bloody thing winked at him. He jumped where he stood, almost knocking back into other students. Soon names were begun to be called out but Dan got distracted, looking up at the seemingly endless celling. He could see the night’s sky up there and candles just suspended in the air. He was caught up in it, in awe and he didn’t hear the first time his name was called.

“Daniel James Howell!” the witch with the scroll shouted and Dan hastily put his hand up and stepped forward.

But before he could, he heard whispers at his back.

“Howell?”

“As in Bateaus Howell?”

“The famous dueller?” 

Dan frowned, not understanding but he didn’t have time to question it because he was suddenly too close to the hat with the sunken in face. Still, he knew that his parents were not magic. The wizard from the Ministry of Magic had called them Muggles, which meant someone without magic blood if Dan had understood it correct. His father was certainly not named Bateaus either.

“Take a seat,” the witch who called his name told him and he carefully sat down on the little rickety stool. He had not realised how many people’s eyes were on them up here. He had been too caught up in the celling but he was forced to see them all now.

Four very long tables stretching into the room, with space saved up front from where they would soon be joined by their new house members. Dan would get to have a house too. He didn’t feel like he belonged here, not yet, but he hoped that he’d be able to find friends here.

People who would get what it was like to have magic strumming within your skin. Someone who wouldn’t call him weird or expect him to hide part of who he was. 

_Ah, what a young man we have here._

Dan startled at the voice, too loud in his ears and he wanted nothing more than to reach up and yank the weird hat off his head. Granted, he knew this was probably a very stupid decision and it was one thing dealing with a weird sentient hat under normal circumstances. He didn’t want to know how it might act if you pissed it off.

_You’re intelligent, loyal, brave and resourceful. Hmm, let me dive deeper into your mind, young Muggle-born._

It was the first time that Dan heard the phrase but it would not be the last, not by a long shot. He didn’t know what it meant, not really but he could guess it would have something to do with his parents not being magic. He had no idea that it meant that some wizard would look down their nose at him.

Dan squirmed as the hat moved and he closed his eyes, not wanting to look at all the eyes watching him in this moment. What if the hat chose wrong? What if he got sorted into the wrong house? Could you even get a do-over?

_Do you doubt my methods, boy? Dare you question my wisdom? If you’re so clever, where do you want to go?_

Dan tensed, a little baffled that the hat had somehow been able to pick up on his thoughts but he really should have expected it. He still knew too little of magic and what it could do but he had seen that it had quite the reach. A mindreading hat was probably on par for the course. 

“I…” Dan stammered out, looking across the crowd of tables. 

He didn’t know what each house meant. He had just wanted the hat to choose for him, he didn’t want to be left with this. He saw the lion in red, the raven in blue, the snake in green and the badger in yellow. 

_Indecisive? Well, I will narrow it down for you. Gryffindor or Slytherin. Your connections lie strongest with those._

Red or green. Dan’s eyes searched over the crowds again and his eyes fell on the group of first years in front of him. This was taking too long and he was worried and now everyone was probably judging him. Still, he found a set of familiar eyes in the crowd. The boy from before. Phil. Dan wished that the boy had been up already, gotten his house and then Dan would just have been able to copy.

_It doesn’t work like that._

Dan grumbled, heart racing in his chest at the sarcastic voice snickering in his ear. 

“I don’t know,” he said, barely louder than a whisper.

_You have to choose. But do so carefully. One path is harder than the other. But the hardest path is usually also the most rewarding._

Dan closed his eyes again and tried to empty his mind. 

“Slytherin,” he said.

It sounded like the damn hat was almost snickering.

“_Slytherin_!” The Sorting Hat was shouting, much louder now and it was being lifted off Dan’s head. 

Someone was cheering. Right, all of the table in green cheered and Dan felt a rush in his chest of relief. He cast a glance back to the first years yet to be sorted and another glance over at the table in red before he made it over to take a seat next to another first year that had already been sorted into Slytherin.

A couple more students went through, another one was sorted into Slytherin and sat down right next to Dan. It was a boy with black hair and a scheming look in his eyes.

“Are you son of Bateaus Howell?” the boy asked.

There was that name again. Dan opened his mouth to explain that he was not, they must be thinking of someone else but some of the older students near them heard it and let out a gasp.

“I heard he had a kid!”

“I didn’t know he was old enough to attend Hogwarts yet!”

“Son of a famous dueller, you’ll fit right in here, Howell.”

“You probably know all sorts of duelling tricks, don’t you?”

Dan was overwhelmed and more than a little confused. He wanted to try to explain, let them down early because even if everyone seemed excited, they were mistaken. He was not born the son of some famous wizard dueller. His father was an accountant.

“Ugh,” an older student groaned next to him. “Look at that one.”

Dan turned around to look at the raised platform for The Sorting Hat and he saw the familiar boy from the train platform again. He couldn’t help but break out into a smile until he picked up on the chilled atmosphere around him.

“His mother is one of the most powerful witches in generations and she marries a Muggle. What a fucking waste of her pure blood.”

“Mudblood is the worst,” another older student snickered.

“Mudblood?” the young student next to Dan asked.

“Muggle-born or half-blood witches and wizards. People with no wizarding relatives,” one of the older students replied, a little hesitantly. “Half-blood aren’t so bad though. We have some half-bloods here too.”

The other older student snickered. “Right. At least, we don’t have any Muggle-borns. Can you imagine those poor souls?”

“_Hufflepuff_!” The Sorting Hat shouted and Phil jumped down with a smile all over his face. 

Dan had been too focused with the conversation happening around him to pay attention but it seemed like Phil had been up there for a while. Not as long as Dan had been but still. He was still trying to process everything he had just heard.

He would not have imagined that having Muggle parents could be bad. He wasn’t sure he understood why it was bad to be honest, other that it would make everything a little harder for him since he didn’t grow up around magic.

But he had promised himself to work hard when he got here. It was his chance to be special. To make something of himself with people like him.

However, he knew that he couldn’t tell this table, maybe not tell anyone from his house that he was a Muggle-born. The older Slytherins had made it clear that they were not very fond of those related to Muggles. Dan had heard it clear in their words and their tones. They also didn’t believe there to be a single Muggle-born in their house.

They were wrong though. The Sorting Hat had called Dan a Muggle-born. It could not have been mistaken. But it had still placed Dan in Slytherin. He didn’t understand any of it.

“So, what’s it like having Bateaus Howell as a father? Is he strict?”

Dan hadn’t wanted to lie, not here in the place where he had hoped that he would finally be allowed to be himself, but he found his mouth moving anyway. He was spinning a tale, of being the son of a man he had never met, because he didn’t know what else to do.

In the following weeks, Dan quickly realised that Slytherin was the house that cared the most about the being pure-blood. Everyone said that it stemmed back to when the four wizards and witches had founded the school. Salazar Slytherin had wanted to make a school just for pure-blood students and as such the sentiment had stuck a bit with those of that house. Now, a small number of half-bloods were admitted into Slytherin but it was practically unheard of for Muggle-born wizard or witches to be sorted into the house.

Dan spent his first few weeks being overwhelmed. He managed to get hold of some old newspapers, with the help from a grumpy librarian and he studied up on his supposed father. Thankfully, the wizard was a notorious loner and he had retired from duelling a decade ago after an injury. There was almost a bit of a legend around him. He’d gone entirely undefeated up until his final battle which had ended in a tie.

No one seemed to know much about his personal life and Dan used this to his advantage. As such, his stories quickly earned him a few fast friendships and the other young Slytherins were nice. But some of them cared too much about blood purity and taking after some of the older students, they started to bully anyone who wasn’t a pure-blood. The Muggle-born got the hardest treatment but the half-bloods weren’t much better off. It hurt in particular when Dan’s friends turned their sight on Phil, who seemed to be the sweetest boy in existence despite Dan not having spoken to him since the day school started.

Part of Dan wanted to step in every time he saw someone being corned. He wanted to get in the middle of it and stand up for what was right but he was so scared. He had felt what it was like being bullied when it was just Muggle kids around him and now all of the students around him wielded magic so much better than him. He tried to turn a blind eye and pretend like it wasn’t eating at his stomach.

He knew deep down that every time he turned his eyes instead of stepping up, he was almost just as bad as the assaulter, but he just couldn’t. 

Whenever someone started shouting out mudblood Dan just froze up as in terror and trying to figure out if someone had finally discovered his secret. He was of no use to others while he was hiding behind his deception.

It didn’t help that he was struggling in all of his classes. Magic was still a mystery for him and he got frustrated with himself whenever he couldn’t get anything to work. Potions would blow up in his face, spells would refuse to react and one of the plants had tried to eat him. He snuck in late-night study sessions after his roommate had gone to sleep, having to rely on an actual battery-powered nightlight instead of just using _Lumos_ like some of his classmates did. It wasn’t even on the syllabus yet but some of the students just seemed to know what to do anyway.

Dan managed to hide his poor magic skills because frankly a lot of the students around him were also struggling, Slytherin and other houses. They hadn’t been supposed to practice magic before getting to school grounds and it was clear which students had adhered to those rules. It just seemed a lot of the powerful parents of the Slytherin students hadn’t cared about the rules and helped teach their children beforehand anyway.

It was an odd first couple of months at Hogwarts but Dan would still stay that it was better compared to being at a normal school and having to stay at home with his family. Here he got to do magic and while he did still have to hide part of who he was, it was different to at least have one of his secrets out. 

He knew he carried more than one in his heart already and at least having magic was out in the open.

Autumn was growing colder and colder and the trees on the grounds were starting to lose their leaves and winter would just be around the corner. Dan was sitting in class, glancing out of the window at how wind rustled through the leaves. It was not wise to daydream in class but it wasn’t like he was doing it on purpose.

It happened entirely on its own. He was too wrapped up in his head these days. If he wasn’t stuffing his nose in a book, he was trying and failing to practice magic or he was following around his group of Slytherin friends. He had never been this busy or this distracted. He would take whatever moment of quiet that his mind would grant him.

He wasn’t willing to admit it to himself, at least not out loud, but he was tired. He was tired of making up vague explanations for why he didn’t want to have unofficial duels with his fellow first years, like his alleged father must have taught him, or why he didn’t excel at magic when he came from such a powerful heritage.

Magic was cool and he had friends here but were they really friends when they only liked the story that he had told them? He was not the boy he had painted himself out to be. He was just Dan. A young, slightly scared boy, who didn’t know what he was doing half the time. He yearned for a place to belong and for someone to truly look at him, all of him, and choose to stick around despite knowing all of it. 

“Mr. Howell?” 

The sound of his name made him snap his eyes up.

The class was deadly quiet. Dan had been swirling his wand between his fingertips with his thoughts running wild. He tried to hunch down, make himself smaller once he felt the teacher’s and everyone else’s eyes on him.

“Yes?” Dan asked quietly. 

“Is there something more fascinating outside of the window? Is one of the House ghosts perhaps floating around by it?” the teacher asked.

“No, ma’am,” Dan said softly. “I apologise.”

“Since you seemed to need help focusing, why don’t you demonstrate the Levitation Charm for us?”

Dan looked down at the feather resting on his table. Right. Spells. Charms. He had read the chapter for this one and he knew what the Levitation Charm did. It could make things levitate. Duh. He also recalled the words that he needed to say and the movement that should follow it but he also knew that neither of those meant that his magic would actually cooperate.

However, under the stern glance of his teacher and the eyes of the first years from both Slytherin and Hufflepuff, he knew he had to try. 

He took a breath, tried to recall the proper hand movement and spoke loud and clearly.

“_Wingardium Leviosa_.” 

The feather didn’t move. Not an inch. Dan hissed out a shaky breath through his teeth and he tried again.

“_Wingardium Leviosa_!” he said it with more strength this time, trying to force his magic into levitating the bloody feather but it didn’t even budge.

Dan looked up at his teacher, feeling embarrassed and defeated. 

“Nice first try,” the witch told him, with a bit of pity in her eyes. “Pay attention please, and you’d know that shouting louder does not make it easier to use magic. It’s all about precision, being calm and centred, especially when you’re just starting out.”

Dan just nodded and tried to pretend that he wasn’t close to tears. It wasn’t even that big of a deal. It showed as much when half of the students around him couldn’t manage to make their feathers float either. A lot of them got more frustrated that Dan and one feather started just twisting around itself as the student kept shouting the spell.

As he usually did on the rare occasions that he shared a class with the Hufflepuffs, he allowed himself a quick sneak at Phil. He had never worked up the courage to talk to the boy again, not after they had been sorted into different houses and Dan had, accidentally, befriended a group of people that were definitely not big on meddling with half-blood. The whole thing made Dan’s stomach feel tight and wrong because he knew that they would all hate him if they knew he had actually been born to Muggle parents. 

Phil’s feather was lingering in front of the tip of his wand and it followed it easily, so easily that it looked like it took him no effort at all. His face was relaxed and he looked very zen. Phil usually had an air of calm around him. Nothing seemed to really startle him. Dan couldn’t help but envy it.

Even the couple of times when some of the Slytherin had gotten up into his face, calling him a dirty half-blood or insulting his mother because she chose to marry a Muggle, Phil would just smile and shrug and say something awesome that usually left everyone a little tongue-tied. It was usually something like: "My mother fell in love and my dad is great. He’s taught me so many things. I get the best of both worlds. I’m not ashamed of my parents. They’re awesome.”

It was very hard for anyone to counter that type of sincerity. It usually meant that it would be a couple of weeks before anyone dared to say anything to Phil or his friends again, most of which were half-blood or Muggle-born too. It was less and less frequent now that they were figuring out that Phil wasn’t going to rise to their verbal bullying.

Dan had been worried that it just meant that things would escalate but for some reason, no one dared to tussle with Phil Lester. Dan didn’t know if it was because of his mother’s reputation, the knowledge that his older brother could be quite protective or the simple and undeniable truth that Phil was one of the most talented first years across all houses. 

Dan didn’t manage to lift the feather, not even when classes fished. He was rushing to pack up, until he was called to the front of the classroom by the teacher. His friends snickered, whispering something about him being in trouble and then otherwise leaving him to deal with it alone. Yes, they were friends but it was still a bit of everyone-looks-out-for-themselves. Maybe it was because they had only known each other a couple of months or maybe it would just always be like that. Dan hoped the latter wasn’t the case.

“Are you feeling okay?” the teacher asked softly as the classroom became emptier as the students cleared out.

“I’m fine,” Dan said, face expression seemingly sincere. It was an expression he had perfected ages ago, a perfect mask of fine to hide behind even when he was anything but. Especially when he was not fine, in fact.

“You will learn in time. It’s always hard for students like you.”

She had been holding a kind tone when she said it but Dan’s head still snapped up with wild surprise. He hadn’t thought about the fact that the teachers, or at least some of them, probably knew that he had been Muggle-born. No one had ever commented on it before and it struck him with pure terror. Wouldn’t other teachers have overheard when he told stories to his friends? Someone must have picked up that he was lying.

The panic must have shown in his eyes and his teacher smiled a little sadly. “My brother is in the Ministry. Other than me, only the headmaster knows,” she said to reassure him.

Dan nodded, while still feeling a little uneasy.

“Take care of yourself, Daniel,” she told him, a hand placed carefully on his shoulder. “Practice but don’t overdo it.”

Dan nodded and stayed by the teacher’s desk even as she turned to walk away. He wasn’t sure he could get his feet to corporate right now, even if he wanted to.

“Great work today, Phil,” the teacher said as she walked out of the door and Dan was surprised when he turned around and saw Phil still at his desk, seemingly looking for something in his bag. 

It was just the two of them left in the room. 

Dan knew he should have just grabbed his things and walked out. It wasn’t that odd for Phil to stay behind; he was usually slow at gathering his things but normally his friends lingered around him. Right now, he was alone.

Dan wasn’t sure what made him stay by the teacher’s desk but he couldn’t make himself leave.

It was probably ridiculous. Phil wouldn’t be able to remember one random encounter on the train platform a few months ago. He wouldn’t know that he was the first person here at Hogwarts that had made Dan feel a little more at ease, even if it had just been for a brief moment. He would only know that Dan was always nearby the group of first year Slytherin who liked to make fun of those with Muggle blood. Something Phil had and he was entirely unashamed of.

Dan felt a rush of envy again, or maybe it was more admiration if he was being completely honest. Or maybe it was both. He could recognise that Phil was good and it was only natural that he would want to be able to have some of that goodness in himself. He admired and desired to be so confident of oneself.

Phil seemed wiser than his age half the time, even if he also did some really weird things. Dan had heard some of Phil’s friends tease him about his odd behaviour or when he said something weird. With the last items organised in his bag, Phil finally looked up and saw Dan still standing there.

Dan felt like a deer caught in headlights, entirely frozen. Phil probably thought he was a weirdo now. It was not as bad as him considering Dan a bully but really Dan was not doing himself any favours with either of those classifications. 

“Dan Howell, right?” Phil asked, voice light and inviting and he didn’t sound like he found it odd at all that Dan was just standing next to the teacher’s desk staring at him.

“Err, yeah?” Dan said unsure.

“I’m Phil Lester,” he said. “I don’t think I’ve had the opportunity to introduce myself to you before.”

With this, Phil walked up to him and held out a hand. It was very polite and adorable and a little weird for a couple of 11 year olds. Dan wasn’t sure how to react to all of it because he could not understand why Phil was being so nice to him.

However, he did know that it was rude to leave someone hanging, so he clasped his hand around Phil’s and shook it quickly before letting go. Phil’s palm was warm and comforting against his, for the brief moment that they met.

“I know who you are,” Dan said, stupidly, before he managed to put a filter on his mouth. 

Phil tilted his head a little to the side and he looked amused and happy at the same time. Definitely not pissed off or weirded out, which was good but Dan also wasn’t sure what to make of this positive reaction either.

“Right, I suppose you would. Your friends shout my name after me enough times,” Phil said. 

Dan had expected hurt or coldness but Phil just sounded indifferent about the bullying. Like he either was really good at hiding that it hurt him or he truly didn’t care. Dan hoped it was the latter but just in case that it was the former, Dan knew he had to say something.

Actually, he had to say something regardless. This might be his only chance. 

“I’m sorry for them. It’s not o-okay. What they’re doing. What they… call you,” Dan mumbled and wringed his hands.

“You mean mudblood?” Phil asked, saying the slur so unaffected, even as Dan flinched.

Dan had learned to hide his flinch around his friends most of the time but he had not been prepared for it to come out of Phil’s mouth. The teachers or even the house ghosts would scold anyone they heard using that word, not that it had stopped the young Slytherin anyway. It was considered highly insensitive, and older students knew not to say it too loudly around authority figures. Dan still heard it enough in the common room of his house.

“Yeah,” Dan said, unsure what else to say.

“I don’t mind it,” Phil said with a shrug and Dan sent him a sceptic glance. “I mean it,” Phil added.

“How can you not mind?” Dan asked, both baffled and curious. “It’s a bad word. They literally calling all of the blood from your father _mud_.”

Phil seemed to ponder this, only for a second before he shook his head, smile still on his lips. “I know they’re wrong, so I don’t mind. They will learn eventually. Mum warned me that some people wouldn’t like me. It was like that for Martyn at first and now no one teases him.”

“Are you secretly 500 years old or something?” Dan felt compelled to ask. Phil seemed much too wise.

It earned Dan an actual giggle and he wasn’t sure why he was so proud of himself for making the other wizard laugh. Phil’s whole body shook as he laughed and there was something so carefree and nice about seeing it.

“No,” Phil said, wiping the corners of his eyes, once he caught his breath. “Mum used to say that I have an old soul though. But… I’m a little surprised that you want to talk to me.”

“Why?” Dan asked, word tumbling out of his mouth without forethought or permission.

“Well, don’t you agree with your friends? That pure-blood is better and powerful witches marrying Muggles are wasting magic potential?” Phil asked.

“As if anyone would look at you and think you’re not the most talented wizard ever,” Dan blurted out and this time he smacked his hand over his mouth, shocked at his own frankness. He hadn’t meant to say that, not one bit, even if it was true. He was so good at keeping his mask in place, at all times, never letting it slip but right now it was cracking and threatening to fall off entirely.

There was something about Phil that was just disarming. The suspicious part of Dan’s brain told him that maybe there was some magical explanation that Phil was doing something to make Dan act this reckless.

However, he knew that wouldn’t be true. Even more so, when Phil looked entirely surprised at Dan’s outburst. Then Phil ducked his head and Dan noticed how the tips of his ears had gotten a little pinker.

“Thanks, Dan.”

Phil said it so simply and so sincerely and Dan wasn’t sure why it was that it felt like a punch to the chest. Perhaps because everyone like to go around and call him Daniel Howell. Always with the last name, since it supposedly carried meaning and distinguished him. His claim to fame that he had the same name as a powerful wizard. A wizard that he had pretended to be the son of. His stomach turned again.

“Hey, can I ask you something?” Dan asked, desperate to turn the topic to something else. He could also just cut the conversation short and bolt out of here but some part told him to stay put. He could not spoil his chance to talk to Phil.

“Yes,” Phil said with a small smile, looking intensely at Dan, giving him his full attention.

Dan stumbled a little in the wave of focus and attention, he was too used to people just acknowledging him or looking at him for the wrong reasons. This felt odd. Dan cleared his throat and played with the cuff of his robe.

“How could you make the feather float so easily? I just… you made it look so easy.”

“Oh,” Phil said surprised and then smiled wider. “I have a lot of practice. I know minors aren’t supposed to use magic outside of school grounds but Mum put up this seal around our house so that magic use couldn’t be detected. Ever since Martyn went off to school, I’ve been practicing. It was something nice to do when I missed him.”

Phil shared so easily, laying himself vulnerable in a way Dan felt like he would never be able to. Dan was a little surprised to hear about Katherine Lester essentially breaking the law for her son to practice magic early, though he doubted that she was the only one.

“She broke the law?” Dan asked, mouth falling open in shock.

Phil snickered a little, and then looked embarrassed. “Yeah, it was either that or the Ministry of Magic would be after us. She’s good friends with a lot of them, I think, but she said that it was better that way. The Levitation Charm is one of the first ones that I learned. It’s almost second nature now. But charms and spells are all about knowing what you want it to do and imagining it in your mind. I see the feather floating, my magic making the gravity around it disappear.”

Phil said it so easily, like it took no effort at all to just imagine something like that.

“Okay,” Dan said a little curtly, feeling stupid that he hadn’t managed something so simple.

He hadn’t expected Phil to pick up on his embarrassment.

“Hey, it’s hard. It took me a while before I got a hang of it. I’m guessing you didn’t get to practice magic before starting school, right?”

Dan tensed up, hating that Phil had wandered so close to the truth. Everyone had always assumed that Dan must have been trained before he even came to school, at the very least in duelling. So far it was working out in his favour as no one legitimately wanted to challenge the son of a famous dueller but one day, Dan knew that the duelling class would come and he’d be exposed for the fraud that he truly was.

He wanted to lie to Phil, to say that of course such a powerful wizard was teaching his son how to use magic from an early age. Dan had read up on Bateaus Howell. The wizard had clearly expressed his distaste for Muggles and he had once suggested that magic children should start using their abilities before attending school. It made absolutely no sense for him not to do that if he had a child himself.

“I didn’t practice magic before coming here,” Dan said weakly instead, admitting his weakness to Phil of all people.

Maybe it was something about his inviting smile or how he had yet to ridicule him. Phil was soft and gentle and Dan felt like maybe, just maybe, the Hufflepuff would somehow be able to understand. Phil had been the first person to bring him comfort after coming to Hogwarts, and he hoped that he might be able to do it again.

A part of Dan was still worried that whatever next thing came out of his mouth would make Phil drop the nice mask and start to behave cold and rough like all the students from Slytherin did whenever Dan had even attempted to say something that didn’t entirely align with how everyone viewed him. He had quickly learned to shut his mouth and yet here he was opening it again for Phil.

“Well, then that’s probably why. It takes some getting used to. We’ve only been at school for a couple of months! I’m sorry for assuming, it’s just that I could tell that you’re powerful.”

“Huh?” Dan asked and snapped his eyes up from where he had been inspecting the floor to have an excuse not to look directly at the sunshine personality of Phil. 

“Yeah, Mum says I’m sensitive to magic. You’re overflowing with it. I bet the only reason you couldn’t get the feather to float was because you couldn’t focus enough. Want to practice a little more with me? I could help you.”

Dan knew he should turn down the offer. He would never hear the end of it if any of the people from his house found out that he had stayed behind in class with a half-blood from Hufflepuff who was helping teach him one of the simplest charms out there. It would spell all kinds of trouble. Dan still couldn’t make himself do it.

“I’d like that,” he said, meekly, but Phil heard him anyway and grabbed his bag to pull out his own feather. He placed it on top of his desk and Dan reluctantly took out his wand.

They spent ten minutes with Dan saying the words slowly and carefully and Phil helping correct his pronunciation as well as the movement. Dan could now imitate Phil’s movement and pronunciation perfectly, if he said so himself, but at best the feather would just hover for a small second and then fall back down. When Phil tried to demonstrate it shot up into the air with ease.

“This is hopeless,” Dan muttered and sat down on one of the chairs. “It makes no sense anyway. How can I visualise changing the pull of gravity? Gravity is always present. It’s the thing that makes sure that all of us don’t just float off from the earth’s surface. I can’t just make it stop existing for that one thing. It would be like molecular manipulation or something.”

Phil had the patience of an angel, dealing with Dan’s growing frustration and he didn’t even seem to lose hope at Dan’s little rant.

“Maybe you’re struggling because it is abstract. You sound almost like my dad when he talks about magic, trying to find the science in it. It’s a very Muggle way of looking at it,” Phil said and Dan’s heart jumped, even though Phil didn’t sound suspicious. “Maybe we need to try something different.”

It took everything in Dan not just to admit defeat and content himself to the fact that he would always just be a flop of a wizard. Sure, he had been discovered and invited to attend this school and Phil kept talking about how he could sense Dan’s magic but he just didn’t know how to direct it. He still felt like he didn’t belong here. He felt like it was all a big misunderstanding.

He kept his mouth shut because he was not quite ready to cut short this lesson from Phil. Despite the frustration and lack of significant progress, Dan was having a good time. Phil was encouraging and funny and he didn’t blame Dan for how much he foundered.

Phil paused at the door and looked at Dan over his shoulder. “I think you might find this spell easier. It might make more sense to you.”

“Okay,” he answered.

“You have to pinky swear that you won’t tell on me for teaching you,” Phil said, holding out his pinky finger and waiting. He was by the door and Dan was still sat at the desk but it became clear that Phil wasn’t going to proceed before the promise was made. Reluctantly, Dan got to his feet and walked over to Phil and carefully wrapped his smallest finger around Phil’s. They intertwined for a second and Dan worried if he might just have agreed to some type of magical agreement. It didn’t seem to be the case.

“Okay, I found this in one of my Mum’s books last year. It’s the Unlocking Charm, but first we need a door that’s actually locked by a magic spell. I’ll do that and then I can show you how to unlock it.”

“Wait, what? You know how to do that?” Dan asked, a little shocked. 

The old school held many old and hidden rooms. As if the revolving staircase was not enough to deal with, this meant that you sometimes encountered rooms that were locked by magic. No one was supposed to go in there. Students certainly was not supposed to know who to open them, right?

“Yeah,” Phil said, a little shyly. “And I can teach you but you have to promise only to use it for good. It’s nicknamed the Thief’s Friend. You can’t go around stealing things!”

“How do you know I’ll keep my promise about that?”

“Because your magic is bright and warm and you’re a good person,” Phil said, sincerity ringing off his words in a way that almost knocked Dan back a little.

“I’m a Slytherin and I’ve just stood by time and time again as my friends call you names,” Dan countered.

“But you don’t like it, do you? You flinched when I said the slur and you always look uncomfortable whenever anyone tease me. You want to step in but you’re just scared. It’s okay. I can handle myself,” Phil said with a smile. “Besides, I’m a great judge of character.”

Dan was flabbergasted. It was clear that Phil believed every word he said, even if Dan couldn’t understand how or why.

“We’ll also learn it later in the year, you know. It’s coming up in a couple of weeks,” Phil explained with a smile. “So really I’m just helping you get a bit of a head start.”

“Really? How can they know that we won’t use it for bad stuff?” Dan pressed on, even more surprised that Hogwarts would be teaching something that was known as helpful to a thief. 

Phil shrugged. “We’re learning all sorts of things here. Most of what we learn can be used for bad, if we want to. But the school is also teaching us wrong from right. We have to know what is good and bad. Magic is just a tool.”

“I suppose,” Dan said, not entirely convinced.

“Alright, I’ll just lock the door first,” Phil said, like it was so simple. “How does it go again? Hmm… oh, right! _Colloportus!_”

At the spell and the wave of Phil’s wand, Dan could hear a deep click from within the door. They both shared a glance before Dan reached out to try pulling the door open. It didn’t budge. Not one bit. 

Phil looked pleased with himself. “Okay, so that was the Locking Spell and then you have to use the Unlocking Charm. It is pronounced ah-LOH-ho-MOR-ah and you have to move your wand like this.”

Phil demonstrated slowly and Dan tried to memorise the movement before he started to trace it out with his own wand. He was not entirely hopeful that it could work though.

“Why do you think this would be easier than making a feather float?” Dan asked, still a little insecure about his own abilities.

“Well, I can’t be sure but just try to imagine something for me. You know how you have a key and you slot it into the keyhole and turn it? It’s a mechanism that you have probably done before, unlike making things float. You know how to open a locked door the Muggle way. Now you just need to learn how to open a magically locked door. Think of your wand as the key, you’re not sticking it into any keyhole but it has the same function. It’s not hard either. The Unlocking Charm is made to be a counter-charm to the Locking Spell. They fit together like key and keyhole. Trust me. You just need to be able to imagine it. Your magic will follow your lead if you put your mind to it.”

Phil sounded so sure and encouraging that Dan almost wanted to believe in himself too. He still felt a little down about the whole feather fiasco but he had to admit that what Phil was saying made a whole lot more sense than how their teacher had explained why the Levitation Charm should work. His word and the movement of his wand would be the key to unlock a door, a key made to fit into that type of lock. He could do this.

He took a deep breath, practiced the movement one more time without saying the words and then he looked at the heavy wooden door. He fought against his Muggle upbringing that waving a stick around in front of a door was never going to do something as ridiculous as being able to open it.

He’d seen Phil just lock it with a word and a wave of his wand.

It could be opened the same way. Dan knew it could. He just needed to trust in it.

“_Alohomora_,” Dan said, moving his wand at the door. 

Nothing seemed to happen and Dan let out a shaky breath, even as he reached out to yank in the door. It was still very locked. He felt vulnerable and humiliated because why couldn’t he figure out something so simple? Phil made it all look easy. 

He had expected to look over and find Phil ready to chastise or tease him for being unable to follow instructions but instead he was just met with a warm smile.

“Good first try, I think you almost had it,” Phil said and Dan wasn’t sure how but he found himself believing the young wizard.

“What went wrong?” Dan mumbled, looking down at his wand.

“Can I ask you something?” Phil asked. 

Dan hated when people did that because he instantly went on high alert like he should be ready to conceal or protect something. He had never had anyone around him that he could be completely open with, anyone who would be comfortable seeing and knowing him, all of him without any type of disguise or suppressing and hiding part of who he was.

Yet, he knew Phil had been kind to him so far and he didn’t believe that Phil would actually turn around on that anymore. It didn’t seem like the mild-mannered boy was even capable of doing something like that. Dan decided that Phil was too sweet and pure for this world.

“Sure,” Dan replied.

“Do you believe that you can actually open it? I know I said to imagine it but do you trust that you’re able to actually do it?” Phil asked, softly.

Dan felt a little too exposed, too easily read. He grumbled a little.

“Maybe?”

“Why do you feel like that? If it was a key, a key you knew were designed to open the lock in front of it, would you still doubt that it could unlock it?” Phil pressed on with his voice soft but insisting.

Dan took a moment to ponder his words. He would have trusted the key. Of course, he would. If he had known it was made to unlock that door, he would have thrust it in and turned it without hesitation. But it wasn’t the same. Magic never came natural to Dan, at least it really hadn’t since he had been a young child and accidentally had little magical mishaps. Once his parents told him to stop pretending to be able to do magic, Dan had started to shut away that part of himself.

“It’s different,” Dan said and shifted on his feet uncomfortably.

Phil’s expression softened. 

“I don’t want your pity, Phil,” Dan growled out.

“It’s not pity, Dan. It’s understanding. I used to not trust my magic. I remember how scary it felt at first. It’s normal.”

“You?” Dan asked, clearly not believing it. He couldn’t even try to picture it. Phil did magic as easy as breathing, despite both of them still being so young. He knew countless spells and charms; he knew about mixing potions and he had a real knack for interacting with magical plants too. He just seemed to get it where Dan felt like he had taken a misstep and just stumbled into all of this by accident.

“Yes, _me_,” Phil said, rolling his eyes before he reached out to grab Dan by the arm and turn him back to face the door. 

Dan startled a little at the touch but he still let Phil move him back towards the door that he had accidentally been shifting away from. It seemed no less intimidating this time around.

“I know you can do it. Your pronunciation and movement were good. I couldn’t have done it better myself but if you don’t believe that you can actually open the door then it won’t open. Magic will only obey you if you believe in it. Now try again.”

“But, Phil,” Dan whined.

“No buts, try again. Your wand and your magic are the key. The door is made to open for you. Trust in it. It’s just like slotting in a key and twisting it. I promise. Think of it like that, just turn the key like you would for any locked door.”

Phil’s tone was patient and gently nudging and Dan found that he was powerless against it. He wanted to do well and he wanted to be able to perform magic, in part because he wanted to impress Phil - or at the very least not for him to think that Dan was lame - but he also deeply needed to prove to himself that he belonged here.

He closed his eyes and imagined that his wand could work as a key. A magic unlocking spell for a magic locking spell. Phil was right that the two of those fit together. Really, it was just Dan’s job to make sure that he got the key into the keyhole. It was not that difficult. 

“_Alohomora_,” Dan spoke and moved his wand. 

This time around his hand didn’t tremble as much and his words came out clearer than before. He watched in awe as the deep click sounded within the door. His hand was frozen in the air and he was sure that his mouth had fallen open in surprise. Had he done it?

“Why don’t you try the handle?” Phil asked, smile beaming all over his face.

Dan gulped, lowering his wand and reaching for the door handle with his free hand. It twisted open easily under his hand. He had actually done it. He had unlocked it! Joy flooded his whole system and before he had registered what he was doing, he had turned to Phil and wrapped the other wizard into a tight hug. 

Once he realised what he had done, he started to pull back to create distance between them and apologise but Phil just laughed, loud and bright, and he pulled his arms around Dan, effectively trapping him in the hug. 

“I’m proud of you!” Phil said so easily and he couldn’t know how much it meant to hear those words for Dan. He was not proud of it but he always longed for approval and for people to like him. To hear someone was proud of him made his heart swell.

“Thank you,” Dan muttered shyly as he carefully pulled out of the hug. “It was only because of your teaching.”

“Nah,” Phil said with a wave of his hand. “It was all you, Dan. You did well. It’s not easy when you have to get used to magic.”

“I don’t think I ever will,” Dan confessed. “It’s still so insane to walk around the school and just see people doing magic. I don’t think I will ever grow tired of it. It’s so cool. I can’t believe I never knew this was real until this summer.”

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Dan realised his mistake. He should have known about magic. He had supposedly grown up the son of a witch and a wizard. He was supposed to act like he was pure-blood and here he was gushing about his fascination about magic, like the Muggle-born that he actually was. 

Dan had expected Phil to call him out on his slip of tongue but Phil just smiled, warmly and without judgement. For some reason, it made Dan’s chest feel tight, like he might cry. He just wasn’t sure if it would be tears of joy or despair.

“Magic is awesome,” Phil just said in agreement. “I’m glad you could come here to discover it.”

There was something about Phil’s tone, even if his words didn’t give it away. Dan could tell that Phil knew. He had to because it was clear that Phil was a smart kid, which meant he was pretending not to know.

“You know, don’t you?” Dan asked. “About me?”

“What about you?” Phil asked, still a smile on his face. “I don’t like to go around and assume stuff about people.”

Dan frowned, feeling unsecure and worried. “Why are you saying it like that?”

“You are allowed to have your secrets, Dan. You don’t have to tell anyone. It’s okay.”

Now, Dan felt a bit of wetness in his eyes because despite it, Phil still talked to him like before. Obviously, Dan had known on some level that half-bloods and Muggle-born wizards and witches were probably more likely to accept him than the pure-bloods he usually hung out with but he didn’t deserve Phil’s kindness so easily or the respect for his vile lie.

Dan had stood idly by, letting people call Phil and other wizards like the two of them horrible names. He had never stepped up or got involved. He had been too much of a coward. The Sorting Hat had been wrong that he would also have been able to be sorted into Gryffindor. But it was also wrong to place him into Slytherin while knowing his heritage. He didn’t belong in either of those. He hadn’t been smart enough to keep up with the Ravenclaws either and he most certainly was not cut from the same wonderful cloth as the Hufflepuff in front of him. He didn’t belong anywhere. Not at Hogwarts, not in the magical world that he had always subconsciously yearned for. 

“It’s not okay,” Dan said, now feeling tears on his cheeks, and his voice was strained and breaking. “It’s not okay at all, Phil! I’m a fraud! I’m lying to everyone! Don’t you see how horrible that is? I’m hiding! _Again_.”

Dan didn’t even register how his knees trembled under him and he was falling towards the floor but a pair of arms grabbed him before he could collide with it. 

“Hey, I’ve got you,” Phil said softly, which just made the tears flow more. Dan tried to clench his jaw and will them away. He didn’t want to cry. This was embarrassing enough. 

“I’m sorry,” he choked out.

“It’s okay, why don’t we sit down?” Phil asked and started to tug Dan along until they reached the big window where both of them could easily sit on the edge of the windowsill.

“You should be mad at me,” Dan muttered. “I’m a filthy mudblood and I don’t even have the guts to admit it.”

“You’re not filthy, Dan. I told you before, having a Muggle parent, or two for that matter, is not a bad thing. It does not make you less worthy of being here. Your magic is bright, I told you. You have as much a right as anyone else to be here. You don’t think less of me because my father was a Muggle, do you?”

“What? No, of course not!”

“Right, and I don’t think less of your parents for being Muggles. The wizards and witches that do are narrow-minded, not to speak bad about your friends. But… you should maybe consider if they are your friends if they would say something like that about you, if they knew.”

“I don’t have anyone else,” Dan said, voice shaky and rough with unshed tears. “Everyone thinks that I’m a pure-blood snob just like the people I hang out with. They took me into their little group and I don’t know how to explain that I’m not without telling everyone about.. you know.”

“Do you not think they will find out eventually, Dan? Someone will figure out that you’re not Bateaus Howell’s son,” Phil said softly, not accusing but just acknowledging the inevitable fact.

“I know, and that just makes everything worse. Then I won’t even have those friends, even if they’re shitty friends and no one else will want to talk to me either because they can tell I’m just a weakling hiding behind lies.”

Dan had backed himself into a corner and he didn’t know how to get out of it. He had found it difficult to make friends in Muggle school growing up and here he had found a cliché, a group of people that would always be willing to hang out with him. He knew they were not the best type of people, or maybe they were just misguided and mistaken about this whole blood purity thing, but they were still friends. They were someone to depend on and he needed to have friends in his house. Your housemates were supposed to be your family. Dan had dreamed that he’d be able to go back in time, to get The Sorting Hat to put him anywhere but in that house. Anything would have been better. Maybe Phil knew something about time travel, though Dan doubted it was legal.

“I’ll be your friend, Dan,” Phil said so sincerely that it ripped Dan entirely out of his thought spiral.

“What?”

“I’ll gladly be your friend. I’ve actually wanted to talk to you since I bumped into you on the train platform when we arrived.”

“You remember that?” Dan asked baffled.

“Of course,” Phil said. “I’m a big believer in fate and I think there was a reason I was right next to you as you tumbled. We were meant to meet. But seeing the crowd you hung out with, I was a little scared to approach. You seemed nice and it would hurt to have you call me slurs too.”

“I would never, Phil,” Dan said.

Despite who he hung out with he could never make himself use _mudblood _against anyone. He knew that it would taste as acid on his tongue and he had no interests in burning and scaring himself further.

“I can see that now,” Phil admitted and shot Dan another one of his smiles.

Phil smiled at him a lot, more than any of Dan’s other friends and Dan found a bit of his mask slipping away as he properly returned Phil’s smile.

“How long have you known?”

“About you?” Phil clarified.

“Yeah,” Dan said unsurely, because he had a feeling that based on Phil’s reaction this wasn’t the first time that he had considered it.

“I started to wonder when you kept looking so tormented whenever your friends spoke to me and today when you struggled with the Levitation Charm, I kept noticing how you were struggling like my Muggle-born friend from Ravenclaw. And then when you explained why you struggled, I figured that you might be not pure-blood. But honestly, I tried not to think about it too much. It’s your secret to keep, Dan. I don’t need to stick my nose in it.”

“Anyone else would have exposed me already,” Dan grumbled, worrying suddenly that everyone around him was picking up on these tells as well. 

“Then they’re assholes. I understand why you lied. I can’t imagine that it would be easy to be a Muggle-born in Slytherin. It rarely happens but that does not make it wrong. In fact, it make it kind of cool.”

“Cool?” Dan questioned.

“Yeah, don’t you think so? You’re special. You broke through the stigma already, going against the grain. You’re going to be an awesome Muggle-born Slytherin and show everyone that blood purity is not a real thing.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“I don’t know,” Phil said. “Just a feeling. You know one of the reasons my mother is so famous is because she’s a little psychic. People think she can see fate and then step in to change it. It’s one of the reasons that people are a little afraid of her. She’s not scary though, she’s the best mum in the world. And she can’t really see the future but she can usually tell when something is happening, good or bad, to someone. She told me to watch out for a boy at school. Nothing more and nothing less. Just that I should watch out for someone but knowing her it’s probably because she sensed that we needed each other.”

“I’m willing to admit that I might need your help and support, but how can I help you? I have nothing to offer in return,” Dan said a little worriedly, still trying to process that Phil had just explained that his mother could see the future, at least to a degree.

“You have your friendship to give. Duh,” Phil said so confidently. “I’m sure we can learn from each other when you start to believe in your magic too. Like I said, it feels warm and bright. You have so much to show the world, Dan. And I know I have too. Maybe we’re meant to do it together? But for right now, I just want to be your friend. If you want to.”

“Of course, I’ll be your friend, Phil,” Dan said without any hesitance, damning all consequences.

“You know your Slytherin friends won’t like it,” Phil reminded him.

Dan considered that. Phil was right. Dan would be ridiculed for hanging out with a half-blood from Hufflepuff. He had feared it just half an hour ago when he had stayed behind with the Hufflepuff. It would probably also mean that his lie would be exposed that much quicker. It was a risk but Dan could still not make himself go back on what he had just told Phil.

“I know,” Dan admitted. “But it doesn’t matter. They’re wrong about their purity anyway. Some of the pure-blood wizards and witches are horrible. Their blood does not help that.”

“It’s because they’re going about this whole purity thing all wrong,” Phil said.

“Oh?”

“Yeah, it’s not about how pure your blood is - if your parents and your whole ancestry is only made up of wizards and witches. It’s about what’s in your heart - how you treat others and whether you’re making the world a better place.”

Dan chuckled. He might just have properly met Phil but he felt like that was a very Phil thing to say. He was so sweet and unwavering in how he approached the world. He didn’t let anyone knock him down or question him.

“You’re too precious for this world, Phil,” Dan said.

Phil’s eyebrows raised in surprise and then he wore that small and shy smile again. “Shut up.”

Now, Dan laughed. “No, seriously. How can you just… look at the world the way you do?”

Phil’s shoulders tightened. “Because I’m actively trying. It’s… I’m an odd kid, you know? It didn’t get me a lot of friends in Muggle school. Most people didn’t understand me and I started to act differently. Less me. I had to promise my parents that I wouldn’t do that here. That I’m okay to be myself and that people will like me just for who I am.”

“Easier said than done,” Dan said in agreement, even if he couldn’t understand how someone could not appreciate Phil for all that he was. 

“I know,” Phil said with a sigh. “I don’t feel like that talking to you. You’re easy to talk to and you don’t look confused when I speak too much or tell me off for looking at the world the way I do.”

Dan smiled a little at that. He hadn’t imagined that Phil might also feel that easy sense of comfort that got established between them without either one noticing.

“Can you handle being friends with a liar?” Dan asked. “I know I can’t live the lie forever but I’m not ready to tell everyone yet.”

Phil smiled and reached out his hand. Dan looked at it for a second before taking it.

“You tell people when you’re ready, Dan. I’ll be here next to you, if you want. I can also introduce you to other people with Muggle parents. There are quite a few of us. We vastly outnumber the pure-blood students, you know.”

Dan hadn’t noticed, mostly because a lot of the pure-blood wizards and witches ended up in Slytherin. He had learned that most of them had been raised with some of the same morals. Dan didn’t fit in there in more ways than one but maybe, just maybe he could see what Phil meant before. He had the opportunity to set an example. It felt like a heavy weight on his slim shoulders but Phil was right that none of that needed to happen right now. They were children, just starting their first year at Hogwarts and they had nearly seven years to go. Right now, Dan just had to focus on learning how to use magic and making friends.

Friends that he maybe didn’t need to hide anything from. Someone who would accept all the parts of himself. People who would go further than acceptance and embracing all the parts of him that made him uniquely Dan.

As Dan looked at Phil, saw the sweet, wise and brave boy in front of him he felt like he could actually be someone like that. He hadn’t thought that Phil longed for someone who understood what it felt like being just slightly off. He had seen how people flocked around Phil, and he seemed to have plenty of friends. But being surrounded by people didn’t mean that you might still not long for something. Dan knew that from his own experience. It looked like he fit in with his friend group, always having someone by his side, but it felt empty.

Dan and Phil were still holding hands. Neither of them had wanted to let go just yet. Now, Dan didn’t believe in fate, not like Phil said he did but he was not stupid enough to say no to the sweetest boy he’d ever met offering him friendship and understanding.

Dan had known he craved for someone to see, accept and embrace him but he had not been prepared for how it felt to sit in the window with Phil’s hand in his and knowing the other boy might be able to become the confidant that he had longed for all of his life. 

It was too early to tell but there was something, deep in Dan’s gut telling him to never let this boy leave his life. He felt his magic hot under his skin and in a surge of confidence, he pulled out his wand with his free hand, aimed it in direction of the abandoned feather on the desk, nearly across the room.

“_Wingardium Leviosa_,” he said, imagining the feather moving from the desk and coming to levitate in front of his wand. The movement felt a little stilted and he was nervous but the words rang out clear and the feather gently started to float upwards and moved across the room at the same leisurely pace until it was in front of the tip of Dan’s wand. Floating steadily.

Phil had watched the whole thing with a smile on his lips. As the feather reached its target, Phil gave Dan’s hand a warm squeeze. 

“Told you that you could do it, if you just trusted your magic,” Phil said, giggling and smiling proudly.

Dan had a snappy comeback at the tip of his tongue but it fell away when he looked at Phil and how his eyes almost seemed to be sparkling. He was so happy on Dan’s behalf, openly so, and Dan felt like someone had punched all the air out of his lungs because how could such a wonderful wizard want to be friends with his clumsy ass.

“Phil?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you really want to be friends?”

“Of course.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re pure, Dan. Not pure-blooded but certainly pure-hearted. And I like talking to you.”

“You’re so weird,” Dan said, because it was true but he could see the way Phil’s face fell and he knew he had to explain that he didn’t mean in a bad way. In fact, he meant it in the best way possible. “I love it, Phil.”

“Really?”

“Of course. And I like talking to you too.”

Just as Dan finished speaking, someone opened the door and a group of fourth year Slytherin were looking at the two of them in confusion. They must have a class in the room next.

Phil started to pull his hand away from Dan’s, but Dan just held on tight and dragged Phil down with him from the windowsill. He could see that people were looking at the two of them, in confusion, but he didn’t care.

It didn’t have to make sense to anyone else but them.

None of them knew it at the time but in that old classroom in Hogwarts on the third floor of the west wing a bond like none other had just been formed. The two pure-hearted wizards had just been children at the time but they would find a partner in each other through the years. They would become real best friends and companions through life. Some would even call them soulmates. They would go on to change the world in ways no one had foreseen and definitely show that being pure had nothing to do with your blood and everything to do with your heart.

**Author's Note:**

> [Reblog on tumblr](https://secretlywritingstories.tumblr.com/post/188607185930/pure-its-not-about-your-blood-its-about-your) (thank you to those who do)
> 
> And I can tick off another Bingo fic. As the observant person will discover, I completely fell out of the posting schedule that I had intended but I am not quite ready to admit defeat yet. I have one more Bingo fic that I want to write and I need to get it done before Sunday to reach the deadline but if I do, then I will have bingo diagonally across. 
> 
> This prompt was one of the ones where I had an instant idea, even if it ended up changing a little (Phil was originally meant to be pure-blood). I've never written anything in the Harry Potter universe before but I hope I did okay? I'm just a sucker for these boys, so small in their house robes and still trying to figure out how to navigate Hogwarts, magic and friendship. Ahh! I hope you liked it. It turned into a beast right before my eyes. I swear it was never supposed to be this long. Comments are very appreciated, even if I have been so slow at replying lately. I will get around to it eventually and I adore feedback so much, you don't even know.


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